The importance of vision and the human eye's response to light in the course of athletic activities cannot be understated. In recent years, advancements have been made that better allow the athlete to view objects during athletic activities. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,631,987 and 6,893,127 to Dr. Alan W. Reichow, et al. describe optical filters and eyewear including such filters that enhance the wearer's visual perception of objects, such as golf balls. Each of these patent documents is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Sporting equipment itself also may be designed to improve aspects of its interaction with light and/or the manner in which it is viewed by the athlete during an athletic performance. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0170920 A1 describes an enhanced-visibility ball structure, such as a soccer ball, that includes regions having enhanced-visibility colors. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0185066 A1 describes a protective facemask (e.g., for a baseball or softball catcher, for football, etc.) having a multi-colored interior surface matched to visual characteristics of its use environment. Each of these patent publications also is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Like other sports, accurate vision is very important in golf. Vision is important for many golfing activities, particularly in properly aligning oneself for a golf shot and/or in reading golf greens. Despite recent technological advances in golf equipment, putting remains a difficult portion of the game for many golfers. Putting requires golfers to perform a number of independent tasks, consider information relating to a number of different variables, and then combine the results of these tasks and analyses into a physical golf stroke. More specifically, first, the golfer must “read” the green to determine the desired speed at which to propel the ball (i.e., the force to apply to the ball by the putter) and the desired direction to propel the ball. These features are dependent on one another in that a given putt generally may be propelled at a variety of different speeds and a variety of different directions, and certain combinations of speed and direction (particularly over sloped terrain, like most golf greens) will result in successfully putting the ball into the hole. For example, a putt hit in a first direction may miss the hole (by going “above” the hole or “below” the hole) at a first speed, but a putt propelled in the same direction at a different speed (or within a relatively narrow range of speeds) may go into the hole. Similarly, a putt may be hit within a range of different directions, provided the golfer properly adjusts the putt's speed for the specific direction hit. After reading the green (e.g., considering its “slope”) and deciding on a line and speed, the golfer then must hit the ball with the putter in the desired direction at the desired speed. Deviations in any of these judgments or execution may lead to missed putts.
Many factors can cause a golfer to hit a putt in the wrong direction, even when the golfer correctly judges the direction that the putt should be hit. For example, after the golfer has determined the desired line of the putt, he or she typically changes position to address and then hit the ball. Golfers may lose track of the desired line and/or inadvertently misalign themselves as they transfer their body from the putt reading position to the putt address position.
Additionally, before or during the course of a swing, the putter head may twist or otherwise misalign thereby causing the putt to drift off the desired line. This problem can be exacerbated when the club head itself contains sources of visual distraction, such as shiny surfaces, sharp corners or edges, etc. For example, when these visual distractions catch a user's eye as the putter swings, it may cause the golfer's eye, head, or other part of the body to move at least slightly, which can adversely impact the speed and/or direction of putter movement. Moreover, these visual distractions can obscure visualization of the club head's alignment aid, another feature that can adversely impact putting direction.
Fatigue also can play a role in putting processes. Visual attention and concentration in activities over long periods of time where fatigue can play a role, such as golf, especially under the harsh, varied, and changing environmental light conditions encountered during golf, is more readily maintained when the detail of interest (e.g., the alignment aid) is the brightest (strongest visual signal) throughout the visual field. Distracting features of putter heads and putter motion, as described above, can cause even more problems as fatigue sets in over the course of the golfer's round.
Accordingly, advancements in putters that help keep golfers better aligned and/or avoid visual distractions during putting would be welcome in the art.